Titus 2:9-10

Titus chapter 2, verses 9 and 10 for our text and study this evening. We’re looking at the last phrase of verse 10. Exort servants to be obedient under their own masters and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things. May God bless to us His sacred and holy word this evening. There’s a story that’s been told many times about a man who went to a work site and asked one of the laborers what he was doing. The laborers said, can’t you see, I’m laying bricks. The man walked over to another laborer and asked him what he was doing. And the man answered with some pride, I’m building a cathedral. Now, both were physically doing the same thing, but the first laborer was occupied with the present mundane task of laying bricks. The other laborer was concerned about the ultimate goal. He was building a cathedral. Paul is demanding in this section of scripture in verses 1 to 10 of chapter 2 the practical outworking of doctrine in your Christian. in life. He is addressing five groups of Christians here in the church. Our focus in this present study is on the last group that called servants verses 9 and 10. While clearly the apostle here is addressing the issue of slavery in this situation, the principles of the text certainly are applicable to all Christians in the workplace today. Now, we have talked about the fact that the apostle has commanded you to be obedient to and seek to please your employer. He has demanded that you do not have a rebellious spirit or engage in theft as a worker. In every possible way, you’re to show yourself to be completely trustworthy. worthy. Paul now addresses the ultimate goal that you should possess as a Christian employee. He’s going to give you the big picture of what you’re doing. Are you simply to be a good worker? Is that all there is to it? No. Your ultimate goal is not found in the task you perform, but in honoring your Lord in the workplace. as he tells us here in the last part of verse 10. Let me begin by saying this. You should always consider yourself a servant of Christ. He speaks about here, God, our Savior. You are ultimately working for the Lord. There’s been some debate as to how we should understand the phrase here, God, our Savior. Savior. Some have referred it to the triune God. Some have referred it to God the Father. Some have referred it to Christ the Son. Ultimately, it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. However, in the context here, if you look at verse 13, you’ll notice he says, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And the same kind of language is used earlier here in verse 4 of chapter 1 when he speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. So when he talks about God, the Savior, I think he’s really speaking about the Son in this passage of Scripture. The word Savior provides a reminder here that you as a believer in joy of salvation that has been bought or purchased by Christ’s death. And in verse 14, he’s going to talk about the fact that we have been redeemed by Christ. Thus, as 2nd Corinthians 515, tells us, we should not henceforth live under ourselves, but unto him that died for us and rose again. So we are to live for Christ. The moment you come to know Christ, all things become new. And when we talk about all things, it means also even the way you look at your job. You can’t look at it in the same light anymore. You have a master according to the flesh, your employer, but you also have a master in heaven who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look with me at Ephesians Chapter 6, if you would, in a parallel passage. Ephesians chapter 6 and verses 5 to 8. He says here, servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of heart as to unto Christ. Not with I servants service as men pleasers, but as the servants servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With goodwill, doing service as to the Lord. and not to man. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And ye masters do the same things unto them for bearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven, neither is any respect of persons with him. So we see here in this passage of scripture, the same idea that we have in the book of Titus as service to Christ in the workplace. You must do your work not as unto men only in a sense, but unto the Lord himself. And he repeatedly emphasizes serving Christ. To please your heavenly master and to glorify him has to be your chief goal as you go to work. This should be your first consideration. Even though you’re working for an earthly boss, you’re working for a heavenly master. So you should determine that you are going to live and work in the way in which your Savior commands. He is the one ultimately to whom you are going to give an account. You’ll notice in Ephesion 6.6 it states you’re working for your earthly master but when you do it, you’re actually doing the will of God. So you should see yourself serving the Lord even as you labor for your boss. So you don’t want to go to work thinking that your pagan business owner doesn’t deserve your best effort because he doesn’t pay well or maybe the working conditions are not up to snuff. And you might think, well, I’ll just do as little as possible. Paul says, no, no, you have to have renewed thinking. You have to look at work differently. I’m a servant of Christ. I have to do this work as under the Lord. He’s my real boss. I’m going to answer to him. This is why everything you do, whether it’s washing clothes, whether it’s doing computer work, whether it’s laying brick or waitressing or a driving truck, it doesn’t really matter. Everything you do is to be done unto the Lord. It’s the Lord’s work. As I said in some previous studies, you don’t really have a secular job because everything you do has a spiritual connotation to it. You’re working for the Lord. We have to get away from this mindset that somehow or other that we’re not serving Christ because we work for a human boss somewhere doing something that’s outside the bracket of the church itself. You’re actually serving Christ by the work that you’re doing. That mindset has to be reflected in the way in the manner you do your work. Many years ago, there was a young boy who helped his widowed mother. By working to worry vacations and when he was off school and on Saturdays for a Scottish shoemaker, and it happened that the Scottish shoemaker was a Christian man. So he posted Bible verses all over the shop and he witnessed to the customers when they came into the shop. Well, the young boy’s job was to pound leather for the shoe soles. A piece of cowhide would be soaked in water. He would be cut to size, soaked in water and then it would have to be pounded out until it was completely dry so that it could be put on the sole of the shoes. It was very difficult work and after endless poundings the boy was quite weird. One day he noticed that another cobbler, a godless man, was not pounding the water out of the soul of the shoes he was making. He was nailing the cowhide directly to the shoe while it was still wet. When the boy asked him about this procedure, the godless man replied, well, this way the customers come back quicker. Doesn’t hold up as long. So the boy thought, this is a good idea. I’ll present this to the boss and see if we eat, you know, I won’t have to do this such a hard work and pounding out all this cowhut. The boy, the boy was surprised by the answer that the boss, the Christian owner, gave him. He said this, I do not cobble for just 50 cents or 75 cents from customers. I do it for the glory of God. In heaven, I expect every shoe to be returned to me in a pow, and I don’t want the Lord to say, Dan, that was a poor job. You did not do your best. He captured the idea here of the text that we have tonight. You’re the servant of the Lord. You’re not supposed to be do shoddy work. So you’re ultimately working for the Lord. Now, your strength and resources in the workplace then are to be found in the Lord. It’s by faith in Christ that you are going to be equipped to handle all the circumstances and even the hardships that are going to come up at work. There are problems that will arise. and you come to work knowing you have a Savior who’s watching over your interest, knowing that he’s looking on, that he’s watching, and therefore you have this guidance with you. That he’s doing these things. He’s watching over you. You have the presence of the Holy Spirit within you to empower you to do what’s pleasing to the Lord. Is not the Savior? your one who has been touched with the feelings of your infirmities, does not the Lord know what hard work is, working no doubt in his father’s carpentry shop, or doing the carpentry work with his father when he was younger? He’s able to fully sympathize with you in the workplace and the trials associated with it. And as the Lord of all, he can write any wrongs that are done. This is the key factor. He will reward your faithful service. He will take care of you. in all the circumstances that arise at work. You see how important this is. Because your boss may not appreciate. He might not even know all the things that you’re doing. But the Lord knows, and he will give you credit for it. He will reward you. No good thing done in his name will be for God. This is where faith comes into play and it’s essential to your Christian life so that when you go to work, your faith is engaged. You have to believe this truth as you work. For you indeed may be mistreated and cheated by men. But Christ will take care of you. And the Lord will bless you. If not in this life with a raise or a promotion, he certainly will prosper you in the world to come and tell you well done. thou good and faithful servant. So you should always consider yourself a servant of Christ. Now secondly tonight, your real goal as a servant is to adorn the doctrine of God. He says here, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. What does he mean by adorning the doctrine of God? The doctrine of God, our Savior, is the teaching we find in the Holy Scripture. all the principles that are taught in it in a narrow way we could certainly apply to the gospel of Christ and understand and believe that the the teaching of the gospel that justification is by grace for faith in God our Savior so the word of Dorn that is used here is used in the sense of to decorate to heighten the attractiveness of, to arrange in a particular way. The Greek word here is Cosmio, and in the English we get the word cosmetics from it. You remember the book of Revelation uses this particular word to describe the church as a bride adorned her husband. in Revelation 218. The church, you recall, is described as a beautiful city in that chapter. We read about the foundations of the wall the city are garnished, garnished, cosmeo, adorned, with all manner of precious stones. Now, if you put this into our own situation today, you know that a bride attempts to make herself as attractive as possible for her husband on the wedding day. Have you ever seen a bride show up in a tattered and stained dress? No, she puts on her most lovely gown, loveliest gown. Maybe she puts on some jewelry. She has some pearls or diamonds or gemstones or something of this nature. She arranges her hair carefully so it’s neatly combed and brushed, and she doesn’t walk down the aisle with dirty, straggly, knotted hair. She uses various lotions and oils and cosmetics, puts her face on. So she appears as beautiful as she possibly can’t. She wants to look her best on the wedding day, right? Remember how Esther went through months of beauty treatments before she was eventually went into the king, Hazware, and before she even went before him. This is the idea behind the word adorn. Think about this a moment. Here you are heading off to work. And most of you, if you go to work, you’re going to be surrounded by unbelievers. They can care less about your religious beliefs. Their natural inclination is to be adverse to the things of God. Their minds are on the purpose. pleasures of this world, that’s their main focus, that’s their interest. You are going there to be a light in a dark place. You are to conduct yourself in such a manner that the doctrine, the teaching of Scripture, the gospel itself of Jesus Christ, is made attractive so that your fellow workers and bosses will see that you live in accordance to what you believe. believe, that you are serious about the faith that you profess, that your faith directs your actions down to how you do the assigned task you’ve been given. This will lead the opportunities for you to witness to those in the workplace. Curious unbelievers are going to ask you questions about your faith because they see how serious you are about the way you live it. If you care about it. carefully adorn the doctrine of God, your Savior, and all things, this is what will happen. People will ask you of the reason of the hope that was within you. Now, all things here means it all sorts of or all kinds of things. Whatever the task you undertake, it could be a little task. It could be a big task. But everything’s to be done in such a way as you make attractive the gospel of Christ. Even if your fellow workers hate the teachings of the Word of God, they’re going to take note of how you conduct yourself at work. Let me ask you, as a believer tonight, what is your reputation of the workplace? Is your faith made attractive by how you do your work? How diligent you are? How careful you do your work. How well you do your work. You’re living in a country where it seems that very few people actually attend what we might classify as sound churches. It’s more rare than you might think. Most people are without God in this world. They’re ungodly. They could care less about anything religious. Bad work, then, is the worst possible recommendation for Christianity. negligent work, rushed work, sloppy work, half-hearted work is a bad testimony. It becomes a poor reflection than on Christ your Savior. This is how the man of the world works. He does the minimum amount of work for the maximum amount of money. He hates work. He doesn’t put his heart into it. If he does put his heart in, it’s because he’s thinking about his own profits and it’s a selfish motivation. you’re to be different in the way you approach work. If your reputation is not good in the workplace, then you ought to be repenting before God because you have not adorned the doctrine of the gospel. You have disgraced the doctrine of the gospel. Adorning the doctrine of God. So here we have something that should impact the workplace. Is the workplace a hopeless situation? Well, the business world is a vast structure. The rate of change, the sophistication, the complexity of the modern workplace can be overwhelming. The depravity of man constantly seeks for ways to express itself in the workplace. It is no wonder that our Lord spoke about being light and salt. in the world because not only must we be light in the world but we also have to be a preserving factor meat, you know, rots if it’s not salted. And the world is a rotting decaying place. The Christian is to be a preservative in some manner. You’re to act in such a way in the midst of the depravity around you that you preserve that which is right and good. it. Now, the task seems to be huge. There are many obstacles to overcome on the job, and you might think what’s to use? It’s hopeless. If you work with some of the men I work with, you might come to that conclusion, because I’m sure if you took an inventory of your own workplace, you might come to the same conclusion yourself. But we have to remember that God is bigger than the company that you work for, even if it’s a multinational giant corporation. We’re sort of like David’s, you know, dealing with Goliaths. But in the name of the Lord, impossible battles can be won. We should never think that Christian ethics are futile in a hostile environment. Remember that our present capitalistic system in the West can actually be traced back with its roots to the Reformation period. Historians have endlessly discussed what is called the Protestant or Protestant, Puritan work ethic, which grew up with the rise of biblical Christianity under Luther and Calvin. Our forefathers had an outlook which saw the workplace in light of the biblical mandate of our text. Indeed, the Christian business owners would explore new processes and manage their business for the glory of God and for the good of others. That was their business. motivation. This was once the driving force behind technological advantages. The workplace was where people’s skills, strengths, inventiveness could be used to glorify God and serve Christ. Do you see how everything flows out of your thinking related to work? Teach a person that he or she is serving Christ in the workplace and the whole atmosphere can change. Never think that unless you’re not. a pastor or missionary and elder, you’re doing something specifically related to the church somehow rather you’re not serving Christ. That’s unbiblical. This is where when the Reformation came on that people were taught that their mundane jobs actually have significance. God can use you to affect change in the workplace. You can have an impact. Now, the world’s thinking must be countered in the workplace. Romans. 12 says, be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. History demonstrates that the liberal attacks upon the scripture and the rise of evolution have caused major changes in our workplace, and it’s not for the good. once you cast aside God, which evolution does, once you set aside the Bible’s influence, which liberalism has done, you’ve lost the proper motivation for all work, giving glory to God as a servant of Jesus Christ. You’ve lost it all. Now, socialistic ideas have been substituted for the Protestant work ethic. You have those who were advocating working to produce, you know, justice and equality in the workplace and society where the goal is to produce some type of technological utopia where everybody supposedly enjoys wealth and the opportunity equally equally in society. And to get to that end, we will force the productive to share all the fruits of their labor with the unproductive, which leads to the loss of productivity because it doesn’t matter if you work hard. or whether you are lazy, if you end up the same in the end, what’s the use of working hard? Of course, given man’s sinful state, this utopian dream of everybody being equal, is impossible. Man is not naturally good. Man is not naturally willing to share with others. Man is an evil miser and oppressor, especially when he’s robbed by the government of his labors again. Look at the oppressive results of the communist states in Eastern Europe and South America. Why is it they don’t seem to succeed? Why are they collapsing? Now, in the West, the most prominent motivating factor in the workplace is materialism, money, and what it can purchase. And for many, there’s nothing higher than the accumulation of material goods for one’s and one’s family and of course this leads to selfishness and the rule of the jungle type tactics every man for himself you know cheat lie still do whatever you can to get ahead and earn the big bucks because material gain is all that you’re really concerned about the the product you’re producing doesn’t matter if it falls apart or not just just get your money make money sadly many are and debt and jobs. They have no chance of advancement. The rich get richer, the little guy is non-existent, practically. Economic efficiency becomes the name of game, cutting costs, because money is more important than people, modernizing everything. This has led to a restless underclass of workers and great tension in the workplace where you have underpaid and overworked to employ the employee, the employee does as little as possible on the jobs. side. So we have two problems. You know, one side is that they’re focused on materialism. The other side is, you know, taking from the productive, giving the unproductive. Neither one of these are going to work. We should realize that if you’re motivated solely by socialistic ideas or material gain, you’re thinking has to change. That’s not the way you as a Christian are to do your work. Not that there’s anything wrong with making money. That’s not the bottom line of what you’re doing. There’s never going to be total social equality in this world. If you read the scripture and the Bible tells me that God makes the rich and he makes the poor, and that indicates to me that he doesn’t want everybody to be middle class, right? Poverty and riches have their place in God’s government of the world, and we should recognize that. Socialistic, Ideas are unworkable, nor is materialism workable as a motivation. Given personal selfishness full reigns, is not going to solve any problems in the workplace either. Unless you realistically face the sinfulness of humanity and the need for salvation in Jesus Christ, you can’t expect any improvement in the workplace. Here, in our text, we have the answer to the problem of the workplace. even if you are a lowly slave, this changes and revolutionizes everything. Well, the man laying bricks was concerned with the ultimate goal. He was building a cathedral. He’s looking at the larger scheme of things. Spiritually, you as a believer, as you are in the workplace, you have two basic motivations. One, I’m a servant of Christ. And two, I have a duty to adorn the gospel of Jesus. Christ by how I conduct myself. As you start your work week tomorrow, have a renewed mind about what you’re actually doing. Pray for help and strengthen direction to carry out this principle. And may the Lord bless you and use you as an example of genuine Christianity in the workplace. This is life. one of the ways in which the name of Christ will be exalted in the earth. Let us close.